Reloading basics: Common Mishaps and the Fixes

Reloading is a fairly straightforward business and, once you have been doing it for a while, the process becomes almost automatic; however, occasionally, even the most experienced reloader will have a mishap. Here are a few of the most common problems that you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

Primers seated upside down

This can occur when a primer has not been flipped the right way up in the primer tray and has not been noticed, or the primer has snagged on its way into the primer pocket and spun around, just before it is pushed home. The result is a primer seated in the case upside down. How to get this primer out needs careful consideration and evaluation of the risks.

When a primer is correctly seated, the feet of the anvil inside it has been pressed against the bottom of the primer pocket, pressurising the primer compound and making it ready to fire. With the primer seated upside down, this has not happened, but the primer should still be considered dangerous and, if it did ignite in this position, the anvil could be fired out at very high velocity.

The following procedure is how the author deals with a primer seated upside down, it is for information only and is NOT a recommendation or instruction. Neither the author nor Gun Mart are suggesting that readers adopt this procedure.

With suitable eye protection being worn throughout the whole procedure, the case is stood with the head upwards and a few drops of gun cleaning solvent are put into the primer to destroy the primer compound. It is left for an hour to ensure that it has had time to work. The case is then put into a reloading press, which has a through-ram primer disposal tube, so that, should the primer ignite, the blast would be directed down that hole rather than towards the user. The upturned primer is then removed using a Lee decapping die with very gentle pressure, so that the pin pushes the primer out. It important to use a universal decapping die, not a calibre specific sizer die with a built-in depriming pin. This is because the sizer dies fully enclose the case, so there is nowhere for any pressure from an accidental primer ignition to go. The universal decapping die has a large void inside it, around the decapping pin, so any pressure can dissipate safely, while any fragments are still contained. For this reason, the author has a Lee Universal Decapping Die specifically for dealing with upturned primers.

Alternatively, and by far the safest option, it easier is to apply solvent to the exposed primer as described above and then throw the case away, all you are losing is a case and a primer.

Bullet seating errors

If you use more than one size of bullet is the same calibre and forget to adjust the bullet seater each time you are loading, you may seat a bullet too deep, or not deep enough. The result is ammunition with the wrong Cartridge Overall Length (C.O.L.), which will affect chamber pressure and may cause problems chambering rounds.

The solution is to simply ‘pull’ the bullet from the case, using a kinetic bullet puller. This device looks like a plastic hammer and uses kinetic energy to pull the bullet out of the case. Holding the case securely in a collet, the head of the puller is struck against a hard, flat surface and, when the case stops suddenly, the bullet continues to travel forward and leaves the case. The primed case can be reused and, with care, so can the other components. The bullet can be damaged, particularly a soft nose bullet, when it slams into the bullet puller chamber after leaving the case. To prevent this, a soft material, like a disposable ear plug can be inserted inside the bullet puller, to act like an airbag, cushioning the bullet and preventing damage. There are several bullet pullers on the market, but they all work in the same way. The author’s Smart Reloader bullet puller came with a set of three different sized collets, covering calibres from .17 to .50 AND a spare set of three more collets too!

Clogged bullet seater

When bullets with a lot of waxtype lube on them are seated, they leave lube inside the bullet seater die. Over time, this lube can build up in the die and acts as a plug, occupying the space where the bullet should go and shortening that space. The result is shorter ammunition and, because this happens over an extended period and the change to the C.O.L. is very small, this generally goes unnoticed. Left unchecked, in extreme cases, the rounds may become sufficiently shortened to cause a dangerous increase in chamber pressure.

solution is simply to remove the bullet seating plug regularly and clean out the inside of the die and the end of the seater plug. This can be done on the press, using a bore brush of the appropriate calibre, and the seater plug can then be reinstalled using a blank round to ensure that it is installed to the correct setting.

Primer not fully seated

Sometimes, a finished round can be produced with a primer not fully seated and sticking out past the face of the case head. The round may be difficult to chamber and could possibly go off as it is being chambered, or even in a tubular magazine.

Do not be tempted to seat the primer of a finished round by putting it back through the primer seating tool. The primer could go off, causing the round to ‘fire’ in the reloading press, which is very likely to cause injury. Also, tiny particles of powder may well have entered the primer pocket, through the flash hole, and they could be crushed when you try to fully seat the primer. This powder, trapped in the primer pocket, will be ignited inside the primer pocket, rather than in the main part of the case and this may affect how the round overall ignites.

Pull the bullet using a kinetic bullet puller, then seat the primer correctly and recycle the case into a complete round. This only takes a couple of minutes and is far safer.

Insufficient powder charge

This can occur for several reasons; using the wrong cavity on a charge disk, setting the powder measure incorrectly, a blocked powder feed or simply forgetting to put any powder in the case. These can all result in the same thing, not enough powder; or, in extreme cases, no powder at all inside the finished rounds. During the reloading process, when larger powder charges are being fed from a hopper, you will see the powder moving each time a charge is dispensed and should notice if this isn’t happening but otherwise powder charge issues can be hard to pick up on.

Unfortunately, the first indication that you will get of this particular issue is when you fire off a round of ammunition and the bullet doesn’t make it out of the barrel. Hopefully, you will notice a reduced report and recoil from the shot but this is not always the case. The author is aware of at least one case when a shooter put five bullets up the barrel before he noticed none of them were making it out of the other end! Barrel damage and injury to the shooter are both possible but a blocked barrel is a sure thing.

The only safe way to get these bullets out is to literally drive them out with a rod and a hammer. The rod should be brass, or a similarly soft material, to minimise damage to the rifling. The end of the rod is unlikely to sit on the front end of the bullet centrally and is more likely the go off centre and hit the rifling in the barrel. Some tape wrapped around the rod to make it a tight fit in the barrel will keep it as central as possible. Slow and steady is the best way to drive out a bullet, rather than pounding away with maximum force, and the gun should be restrained in a way that minimises the chance of it being damaged during this process. The bullets will come out and, as soon as the blockage is cleared, the gun needs to go to a proper gunsmith to assess the damage and decide if a new barrel is needed.

If time is not an issue, and you want to avoid this happening, you can adopt the following procedure; Weigh a case, a primer and a bullet, add these weights together and then add the weight of the powder charge you are using. This gives you the total correct weight of a completed round of ammunition and you can then weigh each round to check that it matches this weight within a close margin of error. This works best with ammunition with a reasonably large charge of powder, not so well with charges below say ten grains. (Editor’s note: This is something that I’ve always done with all my reloads and it provides real peace of mind!)

Conclusion

It is fairly likely that if you reload you will have one of these issues occur at some time or other. The important thing is to be paying attention and not being distracted while you are reloading, so that you notice them when they do happen. Having to pull apart rounds that you have made is disheartening and time consuming but sometimes necessary and always the best option. Never be tempted to fire off defective or suspect rounds, as this is extremely dangerous. If in doubt, take the time to identify the defect and deal with it as described above. Reloading is generally safe, so long as you pay attention to what you are doing.

Equipment used

Kinetic Bullet puller £19.45
Lee Decapping Die £12.80
Contact: Henry Krank & Co Ltd. henrykrank.com

General reloading equipment

Norman Clark Gunsmiths. normanclarkgunsmith.co.uk
JMS Arms. jmsarms.com
1967 Spud Reloading Supplies. 1967spud.com
Hannam’s Reloading Ltd. hannamsreloading.com